Huwwara PM
HUWWARA, Monday 12 July 2004 PMObservers: Mecki S., Tammy Z., Anat S., Hagar K. (reporting) colour = red>Huwwara South There were more than 35 detainees, who said they’d been there since 08:00; the soldiers said that at the earliest the men had been there since 10:30. But, since most of them were still there at 17:00, when we left, this was intolerable in any case. About 10 were released at 15:00. A. the commander, telephoned several times to speed up the checks, but without success [ it is the General Security Services, otherwise known, from the Hebrew acronym, as the Shabak or Shin Bet, which cross-checks the detainees’ ID details against its central list of security suspects. This check often takes several hours and during this time the detainees, usually men aged 16 to 30, are virtually prisoners at the checkpoint where the soldiers hold their ID cards until security clearance comes through]. The detainees were forbidden to leave the little unshaded concrete “cage” built for them, or to stand up. Anyone who wanted to move around and stretch a little was set upon by soldiers with their rifles at the ready (when we interceded, they were allowed to stand for ten whole minutes!)By contrast, most of the soldiers behaved relatively well. From time to time they tried to make jokes at the expense of the Palestinians, but stopped when we commented. When pressure built up, they started letting the people through in groups of five, and the line moved fast.We met a Palestinian woman, a Jordanian national, who wanted to visit her mother in Nablus. The soldiers refused to let her through, but, after a sort talk with R. from the District Co-ordinating Office (DCO) [the army section that handles civilian matters] a jeep was sent within 10 minutes and the matter was dealt with at commendably and unusually rapid speed. Humanitarian cases were dealt with quickly and considerately by A., the commander. A man from Jordan, for example, who had no documents except for his passport and who would, at other times, have been detained for a long time, was let through at once with his six children (some over 17) when it was discovered that his wife had died 10 minutes before in an ambulance.However, one of the soldiers was extremely abrupt, shouted, threatened and imposed various sanctions. A talk to him and to the commander improved the situation.Huwwara North There were hundreds – mainly women – in line trying to exit Nablus, and the attempt to divide them into three lines (women, old people and young men) failed. The soldiers lost control and the pressure was great, there was a lot of screaming and delays because of attempts to make the line move back. The soldiers behaved relatively correctly, but there were too few of them and the situation was intolerable.Among the detainees was one who clearly had a medical problem involving his eyes. He had all the necessary permits to go to hospital in Jerusalem, but had nevertheless been detained. Telephone calls to the DCO went unanswered, as did calls to the Physicians for Human Rights . After we’d pleaded with him, D., the checkpoint commander, agreed to let the young man through. D.claimed that contact with the GSS was faulty which was why he couldn’t release the detainees rapidly.The soldier “in charge” of the detainees was crude and violent, shouted in Arabic, and was obviously frightening them. We called D.’s attention to him and he reassigned him. However, he seemed to have enjoyed wielding power and came back to the detainees’ area, only to be banished again. This time he moved to the women’s line where he continued his humiliating conduct by trying to chat up the young women.
Huwwara
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The Huwwara checkpoint is an internal checkpoint south of the city of Nablus, at the intersection of Roads 60 and 5077 (between the settlements of Bracha and Itamar). This checkpoint was one of the four permanent checkpoints that closed on Nablus (Beit Furik and Awarta checkpoints to the east and the Beit Iba checkpoint to the west). It was a pedestrian-only barrier. As MachsomWatch volunteers, we watched therre since 2001 two shifts a day - morning and noon, the thousands of Palestinians leaving Nablus and waiting for hours in queues to reach anywhere else in the West Bank, from the other side of the checkpoint the destination could only be reached by public transport. In early June 2009, as part of the easing of Palestinian traffic in the West Bank, the checkpoint was opened to vehicular traffic. The passage was free, with occasional military presence in the guard tower. Also, there were vehicle inspections from time to time. Since the massacre on 7.10.2023, the checkpoint has been closed to Palestinians.
On February 26, 2023, about 400 settlers attacked the town's residents for 5 hours and set fire to property, such as houses and cars. Disturbances occurred in response to a shooting of two Jewish residents of Har Bracha by a Palestinian Terrorist. The soldiers stationed in the town did not prevent the arson and rescued Palestinian families from their homes only after they were set on fire. No one was punished and Finance Minister Smotrich stated that "the State of Israel should wipe out Hawara." Left and center organizations organized solidarity demonstrations and support actions for the residents of Hawara.Hawara continued to be in the headlines in all the months that followed: more pogroms by the settlers, attacks by Palestinians and a massive presence of the army in the town. It amounted to a de facto curfew of commerce and life in the center of the city. On October 5, 2023, MK Zvi established a Sukkah in the center of Hawara and hundreds of settlers backed the army blocked the main road and held prayers in the heart of the town all night and the next day. On Saturday, October 7, 23 The "Swords of Iron" war began with an attack by Hamas on settlements surrounding Gaza in the face of a poor presence of the IDF. Much criticism has been made of the withdrawal of military forces from the area surrounding Gaza and their placement in the West Bank, and in the Hawara and Samaria region in particular, as a shield for the settlers who were taking over and rioting.
On November 12, 2023, the first section of the Hawara bypass road intended for Israeli traffic only was opened. In this way, the settlers can bypass the road that goes through the center of Hawara, which is the main artery for traffic from the Nablus area to Ramallah and the south of the West Bank. For the construction of the road, the Civil Administration expropriated 406 dunams of private land belonging to Palestinians from the nearby villages. The settlers are not satisfied with this at the moment, and demand to also travel through Hawara itself in order to demonstrate presence and control.(updated November 2023)
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Ronit Dahan-RamatiAug-24-2026Huwara: The school on the outskirts of town and an outpost hidden among the trees
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